What to put in an accessibility statement

An accessibility statement should say, in plain language, that you are committed to accessibility, which standard you work to (usually WCAG 2.2 level AA), what you know does not work yet and when you plan to fix it, how you test, and how a customer can contact you if they hit a barrier, with an alternative way to get what they need. Date it, link it from every page's footer, and keep it true. If you sell to consumers in the EU, the European Accessibility Act also asks you to publish how your service meets its accessibility requirements.¹²

Why have one

W3C gives the reasons: a statement shows customers you care about accessibility, tells them what to expect from your content, and in some places is legally required.¹ For a store, it has two practical uses. It gives a customer who is stuck a way to reach you and still buy. And it is a dated record of what you said and when, which matters if anyone later asks what you were doing about accessibility.

It is also increasingly expected. The WordPress.org theme directory, for example, lists an accessibility statement among the requirements for its accessibility-ready tag.³

What to include

W3C separates a minimum from what it advises adding.¹

Write it in plain language

W3C recommends plain language over technical or legal terms, with the example of writing "videos do not have captions" rather than citing a WCAG success criterion number.¹ Customers reading the statement are usually trying to find out whether they can do something, not auditing you. "The size guide on product pages is an image. Email us and we will send the measurements as text" helps them; "1.1.1 Non-text Content: partially supports" does not.

Be honest about the level

This is the section most statements get wrong. WCAG defines conformance precisely: a page conforms at level AA only when it meets every level A and AA success criterion, and conformance is claimed for complete pages and complete processes, such as a whole checkout.⁵ A store with known issues does not conform yet, and saying it does is a claim a customer can disprove in a minute.

• Say what you aim for: "We aim to meet WCAG 2.2 level AA."
• Say where you are: "Most of the site meets it. The known exceptions are listed below."
• Do not say "fully compliant" or "ADA certified." The US Department of Justice does not certify websites, and no widget, badge or audit makes a site compliant; our United States guide explains the position, and on widgets see do accessibility widgets make a website compliant?
• Do not copy someone else's statement. A statement listing tests you have not done is worse than none.

Make the contact route work

The US Department of Justice's guidance on web accessibility suggests giving the public a way to report accessibility issues.⁴ Make it a route that a person with a disability can actually use:

• an email address in plain text, not only a contact form (a form can be the barrier);
• a phone number if you have one staffed;
• a reply time you can keep, such as two working days;
• an offer to provide the information or complete the order another way while you fix the problem.

Then make sure someone reads that inbox and knows what to do with a report.

If you sell to consumers in the EU

The European Accessibility Act covers e-commerce services from 28 June 2025.² Article 13 requires service providers to prepare information on how their services meet the accessibility requirements, following Annex V, and to make it available to the public in written and oral format, in a way that is accessible to persons with disabilities, for as long as the service is in operation.² Annex V says the information goes in the general terms and conditions, or an equivalent document, and should include a general description of the service in accessible formats, the descriptions needed to understand how it operates, and a description of how it meets the relevant accessibility requirements.²

Many sellers do this with an accessibility statement linked from their terms. Microenterprises providing services, those with fewer than 10 staff and annual turnover or balance sheet of EUR 2 million or less, are exempt from the Act's service requirements.² Each EU country enforces the Act through its own law, so the exact format may vary; see our European Union guide, whether the EAA applies to your store, and talk to a lawyer if you are unsure what your country requires.

A short template

Adapt this to what is true for your site:

• Our commitment. We want everyone to be able to browse and buy from [store name], including people who use assistive technology.
• Standard. We aim to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 at level AA.
• How we test. We run automated accessibility checks [every day / every week] and test key pages, including checkout, with a keyboard and a screen reader after major changes.
• Known issues. [The size guide is an image; we plan to replace it with a table by date. Until then, email us for the measurements.]
• Contact. If something does not work for you, email [address] or call [number]. We reply within [two working days] and will help you complete your order another way while we fix it.
• Last reviewed: [date].

W3C also offers a free generator that walks through these sections and produces a statement you can edit and brand.¹ For a real example, Jralo's own accessibility statement follows this structure.

Keep it current

Review the statement whenever you redesign, change theme or add a major app, and at least every few months. Update the known-issues list as you fix things. If you run daily checks, as paid Jralo plans do, the results tell you when a new issue appears. The free check is a quick way to find out what belongs in your known-issues list today, and it also suggests which countries' accessibility laws are likely relevant to your business, based on your terms, privacy and contact pages. Automated testing finds many problems, not all, so add what you find in manual testing too.